My 20g w. 10g sump

[fish.freak]

looking good, did you get those flat worms yet?
I did some macro weed pulling today too, Im sick of it taking over in my displays.

[bklynmet]

no not yet... local lfs here in northern indiana doesn't sell FWE. I'm going up to Lansing MI to pickup the TR percs and they sell it there. It's not plague proportions so I'm not overly worried. Wh I'atm going to do is siphon a few out and find out the dosage that kills them and then apply it to the tank. After a week, the plan is to dose again at slightly stronger dosage. Since inhabitants are few, it shouldn't be an issue.

[bklynmet]

I got the pair of ORA True Perculas and a green BTA today from Pruess Pets. They packed them well for the two hour drive I had ahead of me (larger bags, oxygen and insulated box) and they adjusted really quick to my tank after drip acclimation.

I will post photos of them nestled in the anemone tomorrow as tomorrow or wednesday as my schedule permits.

[bklynmet]

Here are photos of Sandy and Danny - wife named them after the stars of the musical Grease..
The pair of True ORA perculas with green BTA... It actally looks pinked in the photos for some reason. Flash was not on.


Here's Danny.


Here's Sandy.


Snuggling in the anemone.


One last photo..

[fish.freak]

nice looking pair, but they look like false percs to me. Is that a green or red bta?

[grallster]

Those are definitely NOT true perculas....ocellaris all the way!

[bklynmet]

They're both jeveniles and the black band hasn't thickend up yet...

They have 9-10 dorsal spines not the 11 that a false percula (Oscellaris) has.

Also, the anterior (front) part of the dorsal fin is not taller than the rest of it - eliminating it as a false..
See link below for how to tell the difference.
http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/clo.../blpercula.htm

Final note, they have a little more of a yellow to them than orange when comparing to the Ocellaris in the 75g.

[bklynmet]

Ok, it's been almost a month since the last update... I plan to upload photos tonight or tomorrow. There has been a little new news since the last update.
The tank is continuing to mature. The two clowns are doing great though not straying too far from the anemone. The anemone itself is doing great and gotten greener in the month that I've had it. I've had macro algae continuing to grow almost rampant - which is fine for the time being as I pull the stuff out manually every two weeks or so. Parameters are great - Ammonia, and nitrites are zero. Nitrates are barely reading 2ppm. Phosphates are 0. Ca = 400. Mg = 1280. Salinity at 1.025. Temp is a little warmer these days reaching 83.

I have swapped out the maxijet 1200 for a mag 5 for the AquaC Urchin Pro skimmer I have in the sump. As a consequence, I removed the glass partition in the sump making the first compartment larger to accommodate the larger pump. I also removed the sand that was in the middle compartment for the same reason. The mag is probably contributing to the rise in temp. But it is making the skimmer produce better skimmate and therefore I am fine with it - for now.

I added a yellow watchman goby the weekend of April 28th. He likes a spot down low between two pieces of LR and doesn't stray too far from there. That will probably do it for fish for the time being.

I have not treated for the flatworms yet but I do now have Salifert's FWE in hand to do the job. I just need an afternoon to treat the tank, do the water change and add carbon and keep an eye on it. That is asking for some time that I do not have too much of at the present time with yard work and vegetable garden receiving my attention on weekends.

Another addition is a pencil urchin that I got from fellow TRT reefer. The goal with the urchin is for it to rid the algae from the tank and give it to another local NIMAS reefer for the same services - that way it doesn't go hungry in one tank after it runs out of algae.

Again, I'll try to posts photos soon - especially to get a before shot with the urchin and then get an after shot of what he's eaten.

Thanks for following along!
-Joe

[bklynmet]

Ok here are the photos I promised...

Overall tank shot taken today.


Yellow watchman goby. You can see some of the flat worm in this shot.


Pencil urchin in the tank. You can see the flatworms.


Green BTA


Pencil urchin before putting into tank.


Sandy and the Green BTA. This was taken back on April 11th. It has gotten greener and it's hard to photographing the green because it's like it's iradescent.

[fish.freak]

nice pics!
what type of algae is that?

[bklynmet]

I don't think it's hair algae because I've see hair algae before (at least the common nuissance variety). It's not quite chaeto but thinner than chaeto. It can grow pretty long and hairy and can be easy to pull - but the roots stay a lot of the time. It's a faster grower than the leafier macro algaes and so it has limited the growth of the other macros because it outcompetes them for the available nutirents a little easier. When you pull it it kind of sticks to your fingers a little. That is what I hope that the urchin can mow down. But the algae has been keeping nitrates to nearly immeasureable quantities so it does have some benefit.

[bklynmet]

After seeing this, getting worse and worse, I decided to attempt to get rid of me.


So here is the siphon tubing. Rigid airline at the end of flexible. The rigid part allows you to control where you want siphoned.


What was siphoned. Nasty little buggers! I tested the dosage in here first. Then multiplied by 1.5 and applied it to the tank!
Another shot of them:


Activated carbon in media bag was at the ready.


The was not noticeable effects on the tank inhabitants - other than the red flat worms that floated and died!

[bklynmet]

Anemone and clowns.


The pencil urchin.

[bklynmet]

I added a tuxedo urchin over the weekend. It definitely chomps on the algae and moves around the whole tank whereas the pencil urchin just seems to hang around just a few areas and hasn't put a dent in the algae growth. But the pencil urchin does show signs of growth on it's spines.

I will try to get photos posted this weekend so check back.

[LedZeppelinfan101]

More pics please! :-)